Monthly Archives: April 2019

Opera South East: La Traviata

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White Rock Theatre, Saturday 13 April 2019

Fraser Grant’s sensitive and intelligent approach to La Traviata moves the action to the cusp of WWI giving it an added layer of frisson with the inevitability of death and destruction. The narrative plays out as if experienced in the final seconds of Violetta’s life, a point well made at the very end where she ‘dies’ to those around her bed, but engages with us in her final ecstatic outpouring. It is moving and highly effective.

The focus throughout is Kristy Swift’s Violetta. She is not afraid to sing directly to the audience when appropriate – all the more so in Sempre libera when Alfredo was not off stage but at the front of the balcony. She allows her inherent illness to creep up on us, hinted at in Act 1 but devastating in Act 3 where she can barely crawl around the stage. Throughout the voice is fully focussed and thrilling, with carefully attention to diction even when the words themselves are not in a comfortable translation.

Fraser Grant makes Harry Kersley’s Alfredo a less than sympathetic figure. Gauche and often narcissistic, the tension and tightness at the top of the voice reflects his inability to empathise with those around him and it is not until the final act, when it is too late, that he begins to show any sign of maturity. By contrast Arthur Coomber’s Germont Pere quickly comes to realise the deep humanity of Violetta and takes her part against the rest of the world, though never at the expense of his own family. It was an interesting idea to have his daughter on stage in Act 2, and particularly effective when she embraces Violetta. However, having her on stage in Act 3 raised more problems than it solved. Did she marry? Is she already a widow? We don’t really need to be thinking about this as the work ends.

There are many opportunities for smaller parts to make their mark, and David Woloszko’s Doctor Grenville brought warmth and authority to his few lines, and Jack Naismith impressed again as Giuseppe. The chorus have fun cross-dressing and the somewhat decadent Act 3 party with its belly-dancers is highly entertaining.

The orchestral balance was excellent under Kenneth Roberts and the essential string writing came across with smooth ease, not always the case with smaller orchestras. Fraser Grant had done his own lighting design which was atmospherically effective throughout and demonstrates that you don’t need a west-end rig to create rapidly changing scenes.

Opera South East return in September for a G&S Extravaganza and in late November for a Kenneth Roberts premiere – Ananse and the Golden Box of Stories- coupled with Amahl and the Night Visitors.

ENO: Jack the Ripper; The Women of Whitechapel

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London Coliseum, Friday 12 April 2019

Iain Bell has a distinctive voice as a composer. His WNO opera In Parenthesis was one of the most impressive new works I have encountered in a very long time. It was also a superb piece of theatre, combining the mystical with the stark reality of the trenches. If this seems a strange way to start a review of ENO’s new Jack the Ripper; The Women of Whitechapel it is that, while I have no doubts about Iain Bell as a composer, I have serious reservations about the dramatic impact, or lack of it, of the new work.  To take a pro-feminist approach to the myths surrounding Jack the Ripper makes good sense but Emma Jenkins libretto fails to create female characters with whom we can empathise or really engage. The first murder is of a woman we have never encountered, and the death of Polly makes little more impact as we have had virtually no emotional engagement with her.

The problem is made all the more obvious with the characterisation of the men. Alan Opie’s Pathologist comes across as a rounded and significant human being as does Alex Otterburn’s delightful Squibby. By contrast we gather virtually no sense of individuality from the women who live in the doss house. Only Josephine Barstow’s magnificent Maud brings us anywhere near a credible and identifiably strong woman. (and it seems impossible that I first saw her as Violetta in 1968!)

The approach seems to be caught between wanting to show us the drab reality of doss house living and the everyday reality of prostitution and abuse, and the need for opera to work on a heightened level which will quickly engage with us. To take a few examples. In Peter Grimes Britten gives remarkably little time to Aunties nieces but they stick in the mind as real people. Their from the gutter immediately pin-points the reality of their life in an unsentimental but very moving way.

Similarly Phyllis Tate’s The Lodger gives us a gutsy pub chorus which I still recall even though I only saw the work once many years ago.

There is no need for Jack the Ripper to appear but any work based on the myths needs to have a strong narrative and stark reality which this new opera simply side-steps. Put bluntly, for all that we should care about the women in the doss house, by the interval we don’t. Yet this is not in any way the fault of the excellent cast. Beside Dame Josephine Barstow the women are sung by Natalya Romaniw, Janis Kelly, Marie McLaughlin, Susan Bullock and Leslie Garrett, any one of whom could potentially attract an audience in their own right. Yet the opportunity is missed to allow them to carve out a space for themselves. Arias for individuals could have gone some way to help this but the ones they are given lack the bite and individuality to sear them in our minds.

In terms of dramatic impact one has only to think of Janacek’s House of the Dead to realise what potential there could be here and what, ultimately, was missed.

The setting by Soutra Gilmour is suitably oppressive and this has to be one of the most sensitive productions Daniel Kramer has provided for ENO to date. Martyn Brabbins handles the large forces sensitively but in many ways he is not given a lot to do.

I wish I could be more enthusiastic. I want to be, as there was so much here that was on the cusp of being superb but it never tipped over into the frisson of excitement and excellence which the combined forces had led us to anticipate.

Maybe there is a concert suite lurking within the work which could rescue the many splendid passages – or maybe we could persuade ENO to mount In Parenthesis which is a greater work on all levels.

 

 

CDs and DVDs April 2019

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Weber: Der Freischutz
Teatro alla Scala, Myung-Whun Chung
NAXOS 2.110597

Raimond Orfeo Voigt’s skeletal setting seems quite appropriate for what is in many ways a conventional production of Weber’s gothic chiller. The Wolf’s Glen scene is particularly effective and I loved the giant boar! Musically this is very sound with Michael Konig in strong voice as Max and Julia Kleiter a sympathetic Agathe. Chorus and orchestra respond well to Myung-Whun Chung’s crisp but romantic handling of the score.

 

Handel adpt Leo: Rinaldo
Festival della Valle d’Itria, conducted by Fabio Luisi
DYNAMIC 37831

Today we don’t welcome the idea of favourite works being ‘improved’ even if we stretch the stage presentation of Shakespeare or Verdi well beyond what they might have expected. However in the early eighteenth century there was no such hesitation and here we have an adaptation of Handel’s familiar score as represented by the manuscript found at Longleat which contains some Handel, some items by Leonardo Leo and a number of other unidentified pieces which seem to reflect the party pieces of the soloists who sang the version in Naples in 1718. It is a fascinating piece even if we have to ignore the world Handel originally created. The fanciful production looks pretty but does little to raise the whole above the level of an amusing entertainment. Handel’s original was certainly far more than that!

 

SWEETER THAN ROSES – SONGS BY HENRY PURCELL
ANNA DENNIS, Soprano,
SOUNDS BAROQUE, Directed and Keyboards by JULIAN PERKINS
JAMES AKERS, Theorbo & Baroque guitar
HENRIK PERSSON, Viola da gamba
RESONUS RES10235  67’33

Opening this latest selection of releases from Resonus is a programme of English songs – twelve by Purcell and two by Henry Lawes, who died just three years after Purcell’s birth. Alongside these are instrumental works by contemporaries of Purcell, working in London. Firstly there is Francesco Corbetta’s Suite in C major for guitar. This is followed by Giovanni Battista Draghi’s Suite in E minor for harpsichord. This varied but coherent selection makes for a very enjoyable disc.

 

DIETRICH BUXTEHUDE – MEMBRA JESU NOSTRI
CHAPEL CHOIR OF TRINITY HALL, CAMBRIDGE & SOLOISTS
ORPHEUS BRITANNICUS
NEWE VIALLES
ANDREW ARTHUR, Director
RESONUS RES10238 70’17

This substantial composition gets a stunning new presentation in this release combining period instruments with the well disciplined voices of Trinity Hall. This music is regarded as the first example of Lutheran oratorio and consists of seven cantatas, each referring to a specific part of Christ’s crucified body, in turn divided into six sections and incorporating choral and instrumental movements. Together with extensive texts in the accompanying booklet it is once more possible to enter fully into the heart of this Passion meditation.

 

JOSEPH-NICOLAS-PANCRACE ROYER – PREMIER LIVRE DE PIECES DE CLAVECIN
MIE HAYASHI, Harpsichord
RESONUS RES10236 65’11

Royer was a French baroque composer and most of his surviving solo keyboard work is to be found in this book. There are fourteen characterful pieces here played with style by Mie Hayashi on an Andrew Garlick copy of a 1749 Jean-Claude Goujon double manual harpsichord.

 

JS BACH -CHORALE PARTITAS BWV 766-8 & 770
STEPHEN FARR, Bernard Aubertin organ, Private residence,
Fairwarp, East Sussex
RESONUS RES10234 55’46
We return to familiar territory for this final Resonus disc this time. Stephen Farr continues his presentation of Bach’s organ works with these fine performances of extended chorale treatments. Beautiful music, well communicated on a newly installed organ recorded here for the first time.

 

MARTINU – THE COMPLETE MUSIC FOR VIOLIN & ORCHESTRA
BOHUSLAV MATOUSEK, violin & viola
CZECH PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA, Director, CHRISTOPHER HOGWOOD
HYPERION CDS44611/4 (4CDs) Total 243’

This release brings together a number of diverse works written for violin and orchestra over a long period. Some of the music has bene revised by the composer over time. Extensive sleeve notes give a good background to this music and early on attention is drawn to Bohuslav Martinu’s evolving style from Neo-Classical, through Neo-Romantic and also incorporating Impressionistic features in other works. Included here are two Violin Concerti, two versions of Suite concertante for violin & orchestra, Czech Rhapsody and Concerti involving flute and piano alongside the violin. An impressive set, well presented.

 

AMARAE MORTI – LAMENTATIONS & MOTETS BY CARDOSO, GOMBERT, LASSUS, MORALES, PALESTRINA, PHINOT & VICTORIA
EL LEON DE ORO, Conductor, PETER PHILLIPS
HYPERION CDA68279 66’24

This marvellous collection is described as a “survey of some of the finest- but perhaps lesser known- music from the Renaissance period…from either the Franco-Flemish or the Iberian schools”. The sequence takes the listener from the penitential to exuberant praise. Splendid!

 

GIOVANNI DE MACQUE – MADRIGALI & ORGAN WORKS
WESER-RENAISSANCE, BREMEN, MANFRED CORDES
EDOARDO BELLOTTI, Organ
CPO    CPO777977-2  63’03

From the sleeve notes it seems I am probably not alone in not having heard of this composer before. Giovanni de Macque (1548-1614) is described as “barely known today, he was greatly esteemed in his lifetime.” He lived and worked in Vienna, Rome and Naples ans was influential in areas of vocal and keyboard music. I particularly enjoyed the placing of organ solos amongst the vocal works.

 

CPE BACH – SOLO KEYBOARD MUSIC, VOL 37 – SONATAS, VARIATIONS & FUGUES 1745-55
MIKLOS SPANYI, Harpsichord
BIS  BIS-2331  77’53

I continue to enjoy each release in this long running series of the solo keyboard work of CPE Bach. The fact that this is volume 37 emphasises how prolific this “other” (once regarded as THE) Bach was. There are nine works here, the most substantial being Sonata per il cembalo a 2 Tastature in D minor. If you know nothing about CPE Bach beyond the Solfegietto this would be a good place to start.

 

SPLENDID SILBERMANN
CHRISTIAN VON BLOHN, Silbermann organ, Protestant Church, Bouxwiller, France
OEHMS CLASSICS OC 1705  62’01

I put off listening to this CD as it just appeared to be another worthy (but slightly dull?) historical release. How wrong I was! Here we have excellent playing from Christian von Blohm on this beautifully recorded historic instrument (built 1776, restored 2017). His programme spans the centuries from JS Bach & Nicolas de Grigny through Boely and Mendelssohn. For me the placement of more recent works alongside these really makes this CD a very satisfying and rounded listening experience. I loved Joris Verdin’s Organetto consisting of seven very short contrasting movements and also Christian von Blohn’s own contribution to the ongoing Orgelbuchlein-Projekt – the attempt to “complete” the unfinished work of JS Bach. There are three chorale preludes here. I’m actually rather pleased I saved this one until the end!

 

 

Rachmaninov: 24 Preludes
Boris Giltburg, piano
NAXOS 8.574025

While these can be seen as means of studying the composer’s musical development they are also so enjoyable that the academic is quickly forgotten in the pleasure of being led through the whole collection. A very pleasing recording on every level.

 

Mendelssohn: Early Piano Music
Sergio Monteiro, piano
NAXOS 8.573946

The virtuosity of these pieces, given that Mendelssohn was not even a teenager when he wrote most of them and was only fifteen when he composed the Fugue in E flat major, is stunning. They never attempt to be over clever, there is no hint that Mendelssohn sets out to impress, only that he has a deeply held love of Bach which underpins so many of the works. The romantic sneaks in at times but had yet to flower in his consciousness. Meanwhile we can enjoy Sergio Monteiro’s engaged and convincing playing of these pieces.

 

Gounod: Symphonies 1 & 2
Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Yan Pascal Tortelier
CHANDOS CHSA 5231

When a composer is internationally famous for one work we can too easily overlook their other compositions. Gounod’s symphonies, written virtually back to back in the mid-1850s, are all but ignored today and so it is good not only to encounter them here but to find such convincing playing that one wonders why we don’t, at least occasionally, here them in the concert hall. I can think of many over-performed pieces which I would willing drop to hear one of these live.

 

Tangos for Yvar
Hanna Shybayeva, piano
GRAND PIANO GP 794

Yvar Mikhashoff commissioned 127 tangos from leading composers. Across the late 1980s he received a significant number of responses from a remarkably wide range of composers. That not all sound anything like a tango is to be expected but there are many recorded here which will please, including Berkman’s Thorn-torn lips. As if to round off the disc with something a little safer, we hear the familiar but ever welcome Libertango by Piazzolla.

 

Falla: La Vida Breve
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Juanjo Mena
CHANDOS CHAN 20032

While the dance music is familiar I suspect that the rest of this brief opera will be unknown to most listeners. It comes across as a sort of Spanish version of Cavalleria Rusticana with much the same outcome. The Spanish cast and chorus bring an extra level of authenticity as does the conducting of Juanjo Mena but it is difficult to overcome the feeling that the dance music is the best part of the score.

 

Janacek: The Cunning Little Vixen (Das schlaue Fuchslein)
Frankfurt Opera, Johannes Debus
OEHMS OC 982

This is a live recording made last year from Frankfurt opera and one which could just as easily have been on DVD given the impressive production photos in the accompanying booklet. The modern dress approach – and particularly the highly anthropomorphic costuming for the foxes – seems to carry over into the liveliness of the approach and the sense both of attack in the orchestra combined with those wonderfully indulgent pastoral moments which Janacek creates.

 

 

 

 

 

Nina Kotova at the Opus Theatre

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Opus Theatre is extremely proud to present a unique evening with amazing virtuoso cellist Nina Kotova coming directly from Los Angeles to perform with her brother,  Artist in Residence and international piano sensation Oliver Poole, featuring some of the most beautiful music in the classical repertoire.

Their  programme will include works by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Johann Sebastian Bach, Astor Piazzolla, Arvo Pärt, and Polo Piatti.

Discounted tickets are available until 15th April.

OPUS THEATRE

24 Cambridge Road – Hastings TN34 1DJ

www.opustheatre.co.uk

Beyond The Barricade at the White Rock

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The UK’s longest running Musical Theatre Concert Tour features past principal performers from Les Miserables. Delivering over two hours of the best of Broadway and the West End, and of course ending with a stunning ?nale from Les Mis. The concert features David Fawcett (Valjean) Andy Reiss ( Enjolras & Resident Director for the National Tour of Les Miserables) Katie Leeming (Eponine) and Poppy Tierney (Cosette), together with a live band who capture the feel of the original orchestrations of the chosen musicals.

To this day every musical note is still played and sung live – very rare indeed. Beyond the Barricade gives musical theatre songs a bold concert format treatment – but with the conviction and intention to deliver the material as if the audience are watching the original performance. This incredible concert is now in its 19th successive year.

                             THIS WEDNESDAY, 10TH APRIL,  AT 7.30PM

WNO in Plymouth

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Theatre Royal Plymouth, April 2019

When a work makes a really strong impression there is always a danger that one’s memory may be at fault. Experiencing the WNO Donizetti Tudor Trilogy in 2013-14 I had been bowled over by Roberto Devereux but would it live up to my memory? It did – and given the unplanned change of cast – even more so. With the unfortunate indisposition of Barry Banks, Devereux was sung by Robyn Lyn Evans. It was revelatory. A young singer, with the virility and passion the part needs but also the high lyricism in the voice to carry off all the emotion and charm the character requires. It was one of the most exciting evenings I can recall in recent years of many, many performances.

Robert Lyn Evans

Not that the rest of the cast were in his shadow. Justina Gringyte’s young and often fragile Sara comes into her own towards the end when she accepts the reality of the situation, though she has little chance given the misogynistic aggression of Rhys Jenkins’ Nottingham – himself standing in at the last minute and making much of a nasty character.

At the heart of the work is Joyce El-Khoury’s Elisabetta. If she is not mad at the start she certainly is at the end, and Alessandro Talevi’s often surreal approach helps us to navigate the twists and turns of her increasingly delusional thinking. The parallels with Brexit – a leader who does not listen and puts their personal feelings before the needs of their country – were uncomfortably obvious, even when hugely enjoyable.

James Southall drove his forces with enormous enthusiasm and fresh, intensive playing. The Chorus – as ever – were splendid and obviously loving the spider.

Joyce El-Khoury’s Elisabetta

The strength of this evening rather put the other two into the shade though David Poutney’s new Un ballo in maschera was engaging and challenging in just the right amount as well as being very well sung. Poutney has a love not just of theatre but of the theatrical so it was no surprise that Riccardo emerged in the first scene from a coffin and spent some considerable time there. Added to this, the whole set was made up of tiny proscenium arches, banked up as walls which moved smoothly to convey different spaces. All the time, however, we were aware that characters were performing, both to seen and unseen audiences. The moveable seats on stage constantly reminded us that we are watching a performance, our minds are being controlled. There is no problem then at the end where Riccardo is not actually stabbed – and it is not a case that the wrong person is stabbed – for nobody is stabbed because that does not happen in theatre. The singer pretends to die and then receives a curtain call, so why pretend they were dead in the first place when we don’t want them to be? Poutney takes this to its logical conclusion and allows Riccardo to watch his own death and the sadness it brings, even though he is still very much alive.

Gwyn Hughes Jones is a likeable Riccardo with a fine top to the voice and a ready humour. He is well matched by Julie Martin’s androgynous Oscar – strongly sung and flamboyantly acted. Sara Fulgoni has an easier task than usual as Ulrica as she is obviously a favourite with the court unlike Mary Elizabeth Williams’ strongly characterised Amelia – the only person we really feel concerned about as she is the only one with any heart, a reality which is clearly evident in her passionate singing.

Roland Wood sang Renato for the first half but was indisposed for the second, miming on stage while Phillip Rhodes sang from the wings. This proved to be more than a simple cover and as with Robyn Lyn Evans above we may hopefully hear a lot more from both singers.

Gareth Jones drove his forces with aplomb and made the whole an unexpectedly happy event.

Dominic Cooke’s production of The Magic Flute is very familiar though it still has many strengths. It lends itself particularly to strong characterisation which it certainly got from Mark Stone’s Papageno. His diction is exemplary – the sort of style you expect in operetta but rarely get these days – as is his sense of humour. He was well matched by Anita Watson’s Pamina, their bei mannern being a highlight of the first half. Ben Johnson’s Tamino is fluently sung but lacks passion so that it was difficult to see quite what Pamina saw in him. Samantha Hay was a strong Queen of the Night (though wouldn’t it be wonderful just once to hear it like Florence Foster Jenkins?!) and Phillip Rhodes an impressive speaker.

The production does not water-down the strong misogynistic content of the text nor ameliorate Sarastro’s arrogance. It does however, as usual, side-step the problem of Monostatos no matter how well sung by Howard Kirk.

Damian Iorio’s conducting was fluid and persuasive even from Plymouth’s deep pit – splendid for Verdi but a bit too cave-like for Mozart.

 

 

 

Battle Choral Society: Messiah

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St Mary’s, Battle, 6 April 2019

Messiah has undergone a vast rethink over the last half century, from monumental performances under Sir Malcolm Sargent to original instrument, pared-down editions of exceptional lightness and speed.

 

What is a local choir to do when approaching a work at once so familiar and yet so challenging? John Langridge, directing Battle Choral Society, seems to have gone for a mean average, taking the strengths from a range of approaches and moulding them into an enjoyable whole. To take the most recent thinking first. Although there was no harpsichordist on the day, Nigel Howard’s exemplary organ continuo set a tone for early-music style which was engaging and entirely appropriate. We could hear the continual gently ornamented accompaniment which mirrored that of the soloists and enhanced their own readings. His playing brought a freshness and vitality to tempi which were often on the slow side.

The four soloists, of whom tenor Gary Marriott came the closest to any real Georgian sensitivity, used ornaments freely and with obvious enthusiasm. Their voices carried easily in the warm acoustic of St Mary’s church though it was a pity they were positioned so far to the north side that many of the audience would not have been able to see them.

The choral singing became more confident as the evening progressed, with the triple chorus – Surely / And with his stripes / All we like sheep – finding them at their most positive. They coped very well with Worthy is the Lamb and gave us a rousing Amen. Here they were aided by the splendid trumpet playing of Andrew Baxter and Dean Pelling as well as timpanist John Davies.

As noted, tempi throughout tended to be on the slow side though bass Michael White’s For behold, darkness was surprisingly fast and there were occasional hints of the dance rhythms which actually underpin Handel’s score. Once you have heard the Pifa – the pastoral symphony – played at dance-speed underpinned as if by a hurdy-gurdy you can never hear it any other way!

The next concert will be Bach’s t Matthew Passion on 19 October 2019. Two orchestras, three choirs plus soloists – we look forward in expectation.

Brian Hick

 

Hastings Philharmonic: Carmina Burana

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St Mary in the Castle, Hastings, Saturday 6 April 2019

In many ways the hero and heroine of this concert were Francis Rayne and Stephanie Gurga on piano. Not only did they perform Brahms’s sonata for two pianos in F minor op 34b – an unusual outing – with tender intelligence in the first half but they gave us energetic accompaniment to Carl Orff’s best known work after the interval.

This Carmina Burana used the Willhelm Killmayer concert version (authorised by Orff) scored for two pianos and sic percussionists. It must be great fun do because the scoring is very imaginative and it’s good to see percussion to the fore. The six players here, several of them very young, did a fine and precise job.

And so to the choir. Carmina Burana is a very challenging and long sing but the energy held up pretty well. Marcio da Silva – a conductor who mouths every word – has an unusual style carving visual shapes with his hands but he brings the best out in the singers most of the time with remarkably few wobbly moments considering the demands of the piece. What with all those unfamiliar words (we’re obviously a long way from the comfort zone of the usual masses and magnificats here), cross rhythms and syncopation this is not, simple as it sounds in places, a work for the chorally faint hearted.

High spots included the vibrant sound in the opening and closing choruses, the very rich confident alto work in the exposed section of Primo vere and slow section of Swaz hie gat umbe and the well handled shift into 3|4 time for Floret silva.

There was some lovely solo singing – full of colour and character – from Ricardo Panela although he struggles for those cruel falsetto notes and ducked out of one top G altogether. Ellen Williams, the soprano soloist, has an ethereally sweet voice which worked well here to connote innocence especially in Dulcissime.

St Mary in the Castle, which I was visiting for the first time, has a terrific acoustic and it’s a credit to Hastings Borough Council which originally facilitated the rebirth of this attractive Grade 2* listed building as an arts venue. Today, however, it has no council funding and certainly needs more care and investment. My plus 1 is disabled and I reckon that the venue’s two person lift, which wasn’t working at all at the beginning of the evening, is the slowest in Sussex. The loos aren’t great either. Venues like this are too valuable to the community to be put at risk.

Susan Elkin